2016 Top Ten Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers

In addition to the full list of titles, the Quick Picks committee selected the following as its top ten.

Nonfiction

Maggs, Sam. The Fangirl’s Guide to the Galaxy: A Handbook for Girl Geeks. 2015. Illus. Quirk Books. An illustrated guide to navigating the world of fandom and conventions for female geeks. https://youtu.be/L7gsjZmGF3M

Schatz, Kate. Rad American Women A-Z: Rebels, Trailblazers, and Visionaries Who Shaped Our History... and Our Future! 2015. Illus. City Lights Books. A diverse collection of rad American women for every letter of the alphabet.

Fiction

Aveyard, Victoria. Red Queen. 2015. HarperTeen/HarperCollins. Mare lives in a dystopian society where the color of your blood determines your fate. Her life is turned upside down when it is discovered that she possesses superhuman gifts. https://youtu.be/8UbsNfwkZwk

Black, Holly and Clare, Cassandra. The Iron Trial. 2014. Illus. Scholastic Press. After hearing his father's horror stories of the mage world all his life, Callum tries his hardest to fail the entrance exams for the Magisterium. He fails so spectacularly that they decide to take him.

Lee, Fonda.Zeroboxer. 2015. Flux/Llewellyn Worldwide. Carr Luka discovers a secret that threatens his status as the best zero-gravity fighter on Earth and Mars. https://youtu.be/tj36pMpugr8

Myers, E.C.The Silence of Six. 2014. Adaptive Studios. After Max's best friend kills himself in front of the whole world, Max must solve the mystery before the government tracks him down. https://youtu.be/Dlptk5Q9ziM

Older, Daniel José. Shadowshaper. 2015. Arthur A. Levine/Scholastic. Sierra discovers that her heritage allows her to tap into the magic in art. Now she must use that power to stop the evil rising in her neighborhood. https://youtu.be/TC1eI3oEX7U

Stevenson, Noelle. Nimona. 2015. Illus. HarperTeen/HarperCollins. Nimona can, literally, be anything she wants and what she wants more than anything is to be evil Lord Ballister Blackheart's sidekick. When these two team up, the lines between good and evil begin to blur and chaos reigns. https://youtu.be/BJsomBpAY6c

Yoon, Nicola. Everything, Everything. Illus. 2015. Delacorte Press/Random House. Madeline Whittier is allergic to the world and hasn't left her house in 17 years. When Olly moves in next door with his own complicated life, Maddy suddenly feels like she can see the future—and it could be a disaster.